Murray rolls into Wimbledon quarterfinals

Reuters

LONDON -- Andy Murray continued his winning ways at the All England Club on a rainy Monday at Wimbledon.

The third-seeded British star got past 20th-seeded, 6-foot-8 South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in 2 hours, 33 minutes under the roof on Centre Court, as wet weather forced the issue on Day 7 of the fortnight.

Murray has now won his last 17 matches at the AEC, where be captured an Olympic gold medal in 2012 and gave Britain its first male Wimbledon singles champion in 77 years last year.

The 27-year-old Scot, who has yet to drop a set thus far, will meet the Grigor Dimitrov-Leonardo Mayer winner in the quarterfinals.

Murray hasn't titled anywhere since capturing the Wimbledon title last July.

Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round. The fifth-seeded Swiss slugger tallied 12 aces among his 33 winners, broke Istomin's serve four times and saved all three break points against him in a match that was postponed because of rain on Saturday.

Wawrinka will face surging Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the round of 16. The 19th-seeded Lopez took out ninth-seeded John Isner, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. Isner was the last American standing in the men's draw.

Lopez and the 6-foot-10 Isner combined for a whopping 86 aces, including 52 by the towering American.

For the first time since 1911, there are no Americans, male of female, playing in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

On the women's side, Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard succeeded where Serena Williams failed as she beat Alize Cornet to reach the quarterfinals.

Frenchwoman Cornet caused a sensation Saturday when she sent five-times champion and pre-tournament favorite Williams packing but Bouchard proved to be made of sterner stuff as she edged to a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory.

The match was interrupted after five games to allow the Centre Court roof to close when more rain hit the championships after Saturday's serious disruption.

The second Monday is traditionally a feast of top names, with the last 16 in both men's and women's singles being played, but organizers were playing catch-up this year with several third-round matches still to be completed.

The defeat of Williams blew a large hole in the women's draw and Bouchard exploited it with a performance of grit and power against 25th seed Cornet to become the first Canadian to reach a Wimbledon singles quarter-final.

Having reached the semifinals at both the Australian Open and French Open this year, Bouchard arrived at Wimbledon with the likes of former men's champion John McEnroe tipping her as his dark horse for the women's title.

She looked like she would be stretched into a third set when she trailed 5-3 in the second, but she continued her attacking style to claw back the deficit.

Serving at 5-6, Cornet tried in vain to hold off the Canadian trailblazer, rescuing one point after a nasty tumble, but fired a backhand long to succumb.

“I am really excited and proud of the way I performed,” Bouchard told the BBC. “It wasn't easy, Alize is a great player and got so many balls back, so I had to work really hard.

”I am very excited about reaching the quarterfinals, but I need to stay focused and not get distracted.“